French citizen Mehdi Nemmouche was sentenced to life in jail on Monday for shooting dead four people in a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014, telling the court "life goes on" in his last words to the jury.
The families of victims and survivors of the attacks voiced relief at the end of a two-month jury trial dogged by controversy over what they denounced as conspiracy theories put forward by Nemmouche's defense lawyers.
Nemmouche, 33, who staged the attack after coming back from Syria, spat out just that one short phrase ahead of the jury's final deliberation on the length of his penalty on Monday.
Nacer Bendrer, another French citizen being tried as Nemmouche's accomplice told the court, "I am ashamed to be here ... I am ashamed to have crossed paths with this guy. He is not a man, he is a monster."
The 12-person jury convicted Bendrer to 15 years in prison for acting as an accomplice. He was suspected of providing the weapon used in the shooting.
The attack in May 2014 – the first by a Western European who fought with Islamist militant factions in Syria's civil war – highlights the threat posed by jihadist returning home.
The shooting killed an Israeli tourist couple, Myriam and Emmanuel Riva, and two employees of the museum, Dominique Sabrier and Alexandre Strens.
In final words, prosecutor Yves Moreau called on the jury to hand down a tough sentence: "He will get out of jail and he'll go on another crusade and start killing again," he was cited by the state broadcaster RTBF as saying on Monday.
Turning to Nemmouche, who was largely impassive and refused to speak during the trial, he took aim at his lack of contrition. "The cherry on the cake: You aren't even capable of taking responsibility for your acts," he said.
Nemmouche, 33 – who was radicalized in jail, according to investigators – is also facing charges in France over his role in holding hostage journalists in Syria.
During the high-profile trial, the two French journalists had testified that they remembered Nemmouche, their alleged captor, as deeply anti-Semitic, sadistic and full of hatred.
Defense lawyers, who had alleged that prosecutors doctored video footage of the attack and that Nemmouche was framed in a settling of accounts between spies including Mossad agents, said they would not appeal the sentence.
